Sunderland-based marine engineering firm has been sentenced for safety failings after a teenage apprentice was crushed and killed by a piece of machinery weighing almost a tonne.

Jason Burden, 19, from South Shields, was in his fourth year as an apprentice engineer at Tyne Slipway & Engineering Co Ltd (TSECL) at South Dock when a 970kg tunnel thruster from a ship overturned and landed on top of him.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that on 8 December 2011 he was reassembling the machine on a work bench when it toppled onto his torso and left leg, causing fatal crush injuries.

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A subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that although TSECL was aware that the tunnel thruster – a gearbox and propeller used to manoeuvre a ship – was only notionally stable, it did not take sufficient steps to ensure it was safe to work on or near.

The court was told the company had no documented risk assessment for working on the machine while it was positioned on the work bench, and no documented safety management system for undertaking work on behalf of the thruster manufacturer.

The incident could have been prevented had the tunnel thruster been securely strapped or bolted to supports fixed to the workbench.

Tyne Slipway and Engineering Co Ltd, South Dock, Sunderland, was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £47,936.57 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

(CD/MH)